Jaypee Cement, a part of Jaiprakash Associates Ltd, has shelved plans to sell its Gujarat unit as it did not get the “right valuation”.
“We did not get the right valuation. So we have shelved plans for selling the Gujarat unit,” Ashutosh Kumar, Joint President (Marketing), Jaypee Cement, told presspersons here on Thursday.
The Aditya Birla Group-promoted UltraTech Cement was reportedly in talks to buy the company’s 4.8 mt cement plant in Gujarat and valuations of the deal were estimated at around Rs 4,000 crore. According to unconfirmed media reports, this move was aimed at reducing the company’s debt burden.
“We were in discussions with some parties (in this regard). But, as of now we are comfortable in terms of cash position. So, we are not selling any of our cement units,” Kumar added.
Jaypee Cement has an annual capacity of 37.3 mt across its 12 plants in the country. According to K. Swaminathan, President, Commercial, Jaypee Group, the company aims to increase its cement producing capacity by another 2 mt this fiscal.
“Our cement business generated revenue of close to Rs 12,000 crore in FY13 and is expected to grow by 15-16 per cent this fiscal,” Swaminathan said.